**2. A variety of water features**

Among most popular garden motifs are water motifs. While these require mostly engineering skills, knowledge of aquatic plants, including their specificities, and requirements is an important part when designing a water motif. The Renaissance brought a real wealth of water motifs which were further enhanced by the Baroque. Renaissance cascades,1 for example, at Villa Lante in Italy, and water jets splashing out of sculptures or directly from the water surface, for example, at Villa d'Este in Italy (e.g., **Figure 1**), were common garden features which later, in the Baroque period, grew in magnitude, as evidenced by, for example, the cascades in the German Kassel (e.g., **Figure 2**) or the pompous fountains with ruler iconography in Versailles (e.g., **Figure 3**; [4, 5]). However, even if these motifs seem to be suitable only for aristocratic gardens and are a remnant of past ages, contemporary landscape architectural projects indicate the opposite. Namely, such historic examples

**Figure 1.** *The One Hundred Fountain (Le Centro Fontane) at the Villa d'Este, Tivoli (near Rome), Italy.*

**141**

**Figure 2.**

**Figure 3.**

*Historical Gardens as an Inspiration for the Future of Urban Horticultural Gardens*

*Herkules with Oktogon and Großen Kaskaden, Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe, Germany.*

*Bassin du char d'Apollon, fountain in the Parc de Versailles, France.*

of water motifs were a useful source from which masters, such as the American landscape architect, designer, and teacher Lawrence Halprin (1916–2009), have drawn their ideas. Halprin created several recognizable water features with cascades in which the art of Renaissance and Baroque as well as the art of unspoiled of nature are combined (e.g., Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington DC from 1997). Today, water has also entered urban areas in such a way that it is no longer clearly separated from its surroundings—as was the case with water motifs in historical gardens. Today water is a part of the surface on which the user of the garden (or open public space) walks; it has crossed the borders and become a part of public surfaces. An example is the water motif above Ross's Landing Riverfront Park in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where water flows down multiple levels, connecting the city and the river. Similarly, high water jets, the most prominent element of Baroque fountains, are today merged with town squares and offer playgrounds to children and adults, allowing them at least to cool down on hot days (we could find examples all over the world—let us only mention Smale Riverfront Park, Cincinnati, whose planning stared in 1997 [8], and Viertel Zwei in Vienna whose construction started in 2007 and where the water jets are placed in a small square connecting newly built apartment buildings and service facilities (e.g., **Figure 4**). Among the variety of water motifs in today's cities, we can also find dry motifs that turn into water motifs only when water (mostly rain) is provided. An example is a canal on a narrow medieval street in Ljubljana, Slovenia, where small sculptures of a prominent Slovenian sculptor Jakob Brdar are placed in a canal and a vertical pedestal, also marked by

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90350*

<sup>1</sup> Cascades are a water motif in a garden where water slowly flows (usually down a steep terrain) into lower basins. Such water "steps" can be natural or man-made. In gardens, these motifs were popular for their sound effect. They were common in sixteenth-century Italian gardens and from there spread into French gardens. There are beautiful examples in the gardens in and around Rome (the Villa of Lante, the Villa of Aldobrandini, the Villa d'Este, etc.), which are also rich in sculptural motifs [6, 7].

*Historical Gardens as an Inspiration for the Future of Urban Horticultural Gardens DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90350*

**Figure 2.** *Herkules with Oktogon and Großen Kaskaden, Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe, Germany.*

**Figure 3.** *Bassin du char d'Apollon, fountain in the Parc de Versailles, France.*

of water motifs were a useful source from which masters, such as the American landscape architect, designer, and teacher Lawrence Halprin (1916–2009), have drawn their ideas. Halprin created several recognizable water features with cascades in which the art of Renaissance and Baroque as well as the art of unspoiled of nature are combined (e.g., Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington DC from 1997). Today, water has also entered urban areas in such a way that it is no longer clearly separated from its surroundings—as was the case with water motifs in historical gardens. Today water is a part of the surface on which the user of the garden (or open public space) walks; it has crossed the borders and become a part of public surfaces. An example is the water motif above Ross's Landing Riverfront Park in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where water flows down multiple levels, connecting the city and the river. Similarly, high water jets, the most prominent element of Baroque fountains, are today merged with town squares and offer playgrounds to children and adults, allowing them at least to cool down on hot days (we could find examples all over the world—let us only mention Smale Riverfront Park, Cincinnati, whose planning stared in 1997 [8], and Viertel Zwei in Vienna whose construction started in 2007 and where the water jets are placed in a small square connecting newly built apartment buildings and service facilities (e.g., **Figure 4**). Among the variety of water motifs in today's cities, we can also find dry motifs that turn into water motifs only when water (mostly rain) is provided. An example is a canal on a narrow medieval street in Ljubljana, Slovenia, where small sculptures of a prominent Slovenian sculptor Jakob Brdar are placed in a canal and a vertical pedestal, also marked by

*Urban Horticulture - Necessity of the Future*

horticultural gardens.

Renaissance cascades,1

**2. A variety of water features**

(food, medicine, O2) essential for human survival; and PEOPLE, whose active and passive involvement with 'the garden' brings about benefits to them as individuals and to the communities and cultures they comprise." Humans and plants are therefore an essential part of horticulture. It was man's desire to take a particular plant from its natural environment and integrate it into the environment close to his home, which led to the emergence of designed gardens. And the idea of a designed garden could only be born when the people's goal was no longer survival and when the individual had free time and energy to beautify his or her surroundings [3]. Gardens have grown over time, as human knowledge has grown (in the fields of horticulture, mechanics, construction, etc.), and today historic gardens are a wonderful treasure trove of examples and ideas of how humans once incorporated nature into their living environment and how they can do that today or in the future. In this chapter, we will look at some examples from the history of garden design, and through these we will try to present some possibilities for future urban

Among most popular garden motifs are water motifs. While these require mostly engineering skills, knowledge of aquatic plants, including their specificities, and requirements is an important part when designing a water motif. The Renaissance brought a real wealth of water motifs which were further enhanced by the Baroque.

out of sculptures or directly from the water surface, for example, at Villa d'Este in Italy (e.g., **Figure 1**), were common garden features which later, in the Baroque period, grew in magnitude, as evidenced by, for example, the cascades in the German Kassel (e.g., **Figure 2**) or the pompous fountains with ruler iconography in Versailles (e.g., **Figure 3**; [4, 5]). However, even if these motifs seem to be suitable only for aristocratic gardens and are a remnant of past ages, contemporary landscape architectural projects indicate the opposite. Namely, such historic examples

<sup>1</sup> Cascades are a water motif in a garden where water slowly flows (usually down a steep terrain) into lower basins. Such water "steps" can be natural or man-made. In gardens, these motifs were popular for their sound effect. They were common in sixteenth-century Italian gardens and from there spread into French gardens. There are beautiful examples in the gardens in and around Rome (the Villa of Lante, the

Villa of Aldobrandini, the Villa d'Este, etc.), which are also rich in sculptural motifs [6, 7].

*The One Hundred Fountain (Le Centro Fontane) at the Villa d'Este, Tivoli (near Rome), Italy.*

for example, at Villa Lante in Italy, and water jets splashing

**140**

**Figure 1.**

#### **Figure 4.**

*Water jets in Viertel Zwei (after 2007), Vienna, Austria.*

the sculptor's work, points to the change in horizontal structure of the street. When it starts raining, the canal is filled with water and the sculptures look like they are swimming in the canal (e.g., **Figure 5**).

The abovementioned water motives include waterfalls or spurts of water in fountains, but in historical gardens there where also calm surfaces of water reflecting the sky and sun and the objects near the water, usually emphasizing their meaning. Narrow or wide canals or smaller and larger pools were initially meant to provide water for the gardens. Thus, ancient civilization used them as part of their irrigation systems. However, in the New Ages, the canals and pools provided other uses closely tied with symbolic meaning. The best example is king's garden in Versailles, the gardens of monarch Louis XIV, who wanted to be presented as an absolute monarch, untouchable and distant, as the Sun King, and to demonstrate his absolute power, even over nature. There is an abundance of motives filled with symbolic meaning in the Versailles garden, but let us look at the water parterre composed of two large pools near the Versailles castle. Those pools had a very practical purpose, as well as a symbolical one. The pools reflect the sun's rays and light up the outside wall of the Hall of Mirrors, bringing the light

**Figure 5.** *Architectural biro Medprostor and sculptor Jakob Brdar (project realization in 2014), Ljubljana, Slovenia.*

**143**

**Figure 6.**

*Water canal in Rococo garden and summer residence Sanssouci in Potsdam, Germany.*

*Historical Gardens as an Inspiration for the Future of Urban Horticultural Gardens*

also inside, increasing the lightness of the Hall. One of the pools was decorated with sculptures representing male allegorical figures of four main rivers in France, emphasizing the greatness of the king's territory. The magnificence of the ruler was celebrated also in the grand canal which was about a mile long; it was used for naval demonstrations and had gondolas donated by the Republic of Venice, steered by gondoliers. Furthermore, large water surfaces that provided space for such demonstrations (water battles and rides with gondolas) were not so rare, - they could also be found in the Baroque king's gardens in Hanover and München (Germany; [4, 9–11]). The reflective quality of the still water that doubled the presence, beauty, or power of the surrounding objects and also gave an observer a second window to what he/she gazed upon (calling into question the limits of the present world) was popular in Baroque and Rococo gardens (e.g., **Figure 6**). In the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries—with the new English landscape garden—calm water surfaces gain new role. They become a part of an idyllic pastoral landscape that the new garden style aimed to create. Lakes and ponds in the garden were walked around or crossed over. They had natural shapes and in their vicinity there was usually a pavilion or some other smaller architectural object. Their main aim was to create a romantic, even sentimental atmosphere, to bring tranquility to to the garden's users and to create a picturesque scenery for walkers to enjoy with each step they made. This role of the lake or pond that recreated a part of natural scenery in a human made garden was transferred into cities. It became a part of the human quest to bring nature into the city. A good example is Central Park in New York, where the landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted and the designer Calvert Vaux created a city park with lakes in 1857 (completed in 1876). Today lakes and ponds are part of numerous city parks. When a new neighborhood that includes green designed spaces is planned within a city, such lakes and ponds are often part of the built area. A nice exampl is Viertel Zwei in Vienna, where a lake

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90350*

## *Historical Gardens as an Inspiration for the Future of Urban Horticultural Gardens DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90350*

also inside, increasing the lightness of the Hall. One of the pools was decorated with sculptures representing male allegorical figures of four main rivers in France, emphasizing the greatness of the king's territory. The magnificence of the ruler was celebrated also in the grand canal which was about a mile long; it was used for naval demonstrations and had gondolas donated by the Republic of Venice, steered by gondoliers. Furthermore, large water surfaces that provided space for such demonstrations (water battles and rides with gondolas) were not so rare, - they could also be found in the Baroque king's gardens in Hanover and München (Germany; [4, 9–11]). The reflective quality of the still water that doubled the presence, beauty, or power of the surrounding objects and also gave an observer a second window to what he/she gazed upon (calling into question the limits of the present world) was popular in Baroque and Rococo gardens (e.g., **Figure 6**). In the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries—with the new English landscape garden—calm water surfaces gain new role. They become a part of an idyllic pastoral landscape that the new garden style aimed to create. Lakes and ponds in the garden were walked around or crossed over. They had natural shapes and in their vicinity there was usually a pavilion or some other smaller architectural object. Their main aim was to create a romantic, even sentimental atmosphere, to bring tranquility to to the garden's users and to create a picturesque scenery for walkers to enjoy with each step they made. This role of the lake or pond that recreated a part of natural scenery in a human made garden was transferred into cities. It became a part of the human quest to bring nature into the city. A good example is Central Park in New York, where the landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted and the designer Calvert Vaux created a city park with lakes in 1857 (completed in 1876). Today lakes and ponds are part of numerous city parks. When a new neighborhood that includes green designed spaces is planned within a city, such lakes and ponds are often part of the built area. A nice exampl is Viertel Zwei in Vienna, where a lake

**Figure 6.** *Water canal in Rococo garden and summer residence Sanssouci in Potsdam, Germany.*

*Urban Horticulture - Necessity of the Future*

swimming in the canal (e.g., **Figure 5**).

*Water jets in Viertel Zwei (after 2007), Vienna, Austria.*

**Figure 4.**

the sculptor's work, points to the change in horizontal structure of the street. When it starts raining, the canal is filled with water and the sculptures look like they are

The abovementioned water motives include waterfalls or spurts of water in fountains, but in historical gardens there where also calm surfaces of water reflecting the sky and sun and the objects near the water, usually emphasizing their meaning. Narrow or wide canals or smaller and larger pools were initially meant to provide water for the gardens. Thus, ancient civilization used them as part of their irrigation systems. However, in the New Ages, the canals and pools provided other uses closely tied with symbolic meaning. The best example is king's garden in Versailles, the gardens of monarch Louis XIV, who wanted to be presented as an absolute monarch, untouchable and distant, as the Sun King, and to demonstrate his absolute power, even over nature. There is an abundance of motives filled with symbolic meaning in the Versailles garden, but let us look at the water parterre composed of two large pools near the Versailles castle. Those pools had a very practical purpose, as well as a symbolical one. The pools reflect the sun's rays and light up the outside wall of the Hall of Mirrors, bringing the light

*Architectural biro Medprostor and sculptor Jakob Brdar (project realization in 2014), Ljubljana, Slovenia.*

**142**

**Figure 5.**

is the central point of the open space between the business buildings, providing a calming view through the window and a soothing atmosphere for lunch breaks (e.g., **Figure 7**; [12]).

Water is an important element in the human environment. It has always been attractive to people, not only because of the necessity of survival but also because of the cold, humidity, relaxation, and play that it offers during the hot months. Water is invigorating, not only visually and haptically but also in an auditory sense. The murmur of water inspired the old masters to seek ways to give the water even more voice. To this end, hydraulis, an organ-like machine, was created in antiquity. It was a manually operated machine. During the Renaissance, which is certainly considered to be the most innovative era in the history (especially the garden history) of the western world, the so-called hydropneumatic automatophone was created. The beginnings of this Renaissance invention date back to around 1550 at the aforementioned Villa d'Este, where Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este (1509–1572) created a magnificent Renaissance garden with numerous water features: 500 liters of water per second passed through 51 wells, 364 fountains, 220 pools, and other water motifs. Pirro Ligorio, who created the garden, gathered his knowledge by examining the nearby Hadrian's Villa. The creators and the garden owner himself also drew knowledge from older literature, e.g. Vitruvius' *De architectura libri* 

**Figure 7.** *Lake in Viertel Zwei (after 2007), Vienna, Austria.*

**145**

tones in the pipes.

**Figure 9.**

**3. Indoor**

the *grotta*.

2

tuff, colored enamel, etc.; [6, 7]).

hydropneumatic instruments.

*Historical Gardens as an Inspiration for the Future of Urban Horticultural Gardens*

*decem*, which was translated into Italian in 1567 and contains chapters on hydraulic installations. In the garden of the Villa d'Este stood the Fontana dell'Organo (organs fountain; e.g., **Figure 8**) and Fontana della Civetta (owl fountain), made by the French engineer Luc Leclerc and his nephew Claude Vernard. Both fountains created special sound effects for the visitors to enjoy, imitating the birds chirping (at the owl's fountain) or the sound of water organs (at the organs fountain), accompanied by richly decorated surroundings. The Fontana dell'Organo (consecrated in 1571) had a sophisticated mechanism hidden behind the fountain. Water was routed through pipes, canals, across a wheel, through smaller pools—sounds were produced by both water and displaced air. The visitors who came to see and listen to those fountains could witness a real concert [13]. These water instruments were popular in antiquity and afterwards in the early modern times, and they persist; even in modern times they have not been forgotten. In Zadar, Croatia, sea organs designed by architect Nikola Bašić were presented in 2005 as part of the Old Town Coast restaurant project (e.g., **Figure 9**). Sea organs are an architectural object and at the same time an experimental musical instrument. They are designed as a group of pipes which are placed under large marble steps leading to the sea and are hidden from the view of the observer (as was the case with aforementioned Renaissance organs). The waves hitting the pipes and filling them with water create air pressure that produces random but at the same time harmonious

This luxury of water motifs, which are already successfully integrated into urban tissues offers many opportunities for urban horticulture. Irrigation systems, or even more complex food production systems, such as those found in aquaponics, can include water cannons, cascades, walk-on water surfaces, and even water organs—

Closely related to water is another garden motif created in the Renaissance—

<sup>2</sup> The grotta (It.) is an artificial cavity or a cave that mimics natural cavities. The grotta can be artistically sophisticated (such as nymphaeum), or it may have humorous motifs, or be focused on sound effects. It was already popular in the Renaissance and even more so in the time of Mannerism. It was first mentioned by Leon Battista Alberti. With its humid and cool climate, it is a pleasant place to stay in the summer. Grottas are usually decorated with shells, snails, pebbles, and minerals (oysters, pearls, brass,

In built cavities, garden visitors and users were able to escape from

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90350*

*Nikola Bašić, Sea organs, Zadar, Croatia.*

**Figure 8.** *Fontana dell'Organo (when no water is running, the organs are visible), Villa d'Este, Tivoli, Italy.*

*Historical Gardens as an Inspiration for the Future of Urban Horticultural Gardens DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90350*

**Figure 9.** *Nikola Bašić, Sea organs, Zadar, Croatia.*

*Urban Horticulture - Necessity of the Future*

(e.g., **Figure 7**; [12]).

is the central point of the open space between the business buildings, providing a calming view through the window and a soothing atmosphere for lunch breaks

*Fontana dell'Organo (when no water is running, the organs are visible), Villa d'Este, Tivoli, Italy.*

Water is an important element in the human environment. It has always been attractive to people, not only because of the necessity of survival but also because of the cold, humidity, relaxation, and play that it offers during the hot months. Water is invigorating, not only visually and haptically but also in an auditory sense. The murmur of water inspired the old masters to seek ways to give the water even more voice. To this end, hydraulis, an organ-like machine, was created in antiquity. It was a manually operated machine. During the Renaissance, which is certainly considered to be the most innovative era in the history (especially the garden history) of the western world, the so-called hydropneumatic automatophone was created. The beginnings of this Renaissance invention date back to around 1550 at the aforementioned Villa d'Este, where Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este (1509–1572) created a magnificent Renaissance garden with numerous water features: 500 liters of water per second passed through 51 wells, 364 fountains, 220 pools, and other water motifs. Pirro Ligorio, who created the garden, gathered his knowledge by examining the nearby Hadrian's Villa. The creators and the garden owner himself also drew knowledge from older literature, e.g. Vitruvius' *De architectura libri* 

**144**

**Figure 8.**

**Figure 7.**

*Lake in Viertel Zwei (after 2007), Vienna, Austria.*

*decem*, which was translated into Italian in 1567 and contains chapters on hydraulic installations. In the garden of the Villa d'Este stood the Fontana dell'Organo (organs fountain; e.g., **Figure 8**) and Fontana della Civetta (owl fountain), made by the French engineer Luc Leclerc and his nephew Claude Vernard. Both fountains created special sound effects for the visitors to enjoy, imitating the birds chirping (at the owl's fountain) or the sound of water organs (at the organs fountain), accompanied by richly decorated surroundings. The Fontana dell'Organo (consecrated in 1571) had a sophisticated mechanism hidden behind the fountain. Water was routed through pipes, canals, across a wheel, through smaller pools—sounds were produced by both water and displaced air. The visitors who came to see and listen to those fountains could witness a real concert [13]. These water instruments were popular in antiquity and afterwards in the early modern times, and they persist; even in modern times they have not been forgotten. In Zadar, Croatia, sea organs designed by architect Nikola Bašić were presented in 2005 as part of the Old Town Coast restaurant project (e.g., **Figure 9**). Sea organs are an architectural object and at the same time an experimental musical instrument. They are designed as a group of pipes which are placed under large marble steps leading to the sea and are hidden from the view of the observer (as was the case with aforementioned Renaissance organs). The waves hitting the pipes and filling them with water create air pressure that produces random but at the same time harmonious tones in the pipes.

This luxury of water motifs, which are already successfully integrated into urban tissues offers many opportunities for urban horticulture. Irrigation systems, or even more complex food production systems, such as those found in aquaponics, can include water cannons, cascades, walk-on water surfaces, and even water organs hydropneumatic instruments.
